A New History of Ireland is the largest scholarly project in modern Irish history. In 9 volumes, it provides a comprehensive new synthesis of modern scholarship on every aspect of Irish history and prehistory, from the earliest geological and archaeological evidence, through the Middle Ages, down to the present day.

The fourth volume of A New History of Ireland opens with an introductory survey of Ireland in the eighteenth century, followed by chapters that examine the Protestant ascendancy, social and political life, religion, the economy, and the arts.